Barthomley Church - the start of the walk.
Two young calves weighing us up.
An unusual plant? Any suggestions as to its identity?
It's Butterbur! Identified by staff at rECOrd.
It's Butterbur! Identified by staff at rECOrd.
The first frog spawn seen on a walk in 2013.
Walk stats: Distance: 12.1 miles. Climb: 1139'.
Time: 5 hours 46 minutes. On the move walking average: 2.5 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 2.1 m.p.h.
Group: Martyn, Mike and Celia.
Optimistically we hoped that we would be able to complete the walk before the forecast rain came in from the South west. We set off in glorious sunshine, shorts and shirt sleeves for at least one member of the group! The only rain we experienced was a ten minute spell after lunch that wasn't sufficient to make us put waterproofs on.
Much of the walk was on field paths, so we were lucky to find the muddy sections dry, but there was still plenty of evidence of much flooding in the area. In fact one section of fields looked more like a wetland habitat, with appropriate birds such as Tufted duck, Mallard, Canada geese and Common coots in residence.
The first village after Barthomley was Englesea-brook, a picturesque village that also had a Methodist Museum in the former Primitive Methodist Church.
Lunch was taken about 1 p.m., more than half an hour after Celia reminded us that her energy levels needed replenishing. There hadn't been many suitable place to stop for lunch, so we were very grateful to come across power cable pole lying at the edge of a small woodland, that we could use. As we ate our lunch, we were protected from the wind, that by now had turned quite cool, and we were entertained by Skylarks singing in the field nearby.
Birds seen or heard today included: Blue tit, Great tit, Coal tit, European robin, Greenfinch, Common starling, Common blackbird, Dunnock, Chiffchaff, Pied wagtail, Woodpigeon, Collared dove, House sparrow, Common buzzard, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion crow, Lapwing, Skylark, Mallard, Tufted duck, Canada goose and Common coot.
Overall an unusual walk, particularly good if you like to see horses and you enjoy the challenge of 50 or more stiles.
Barthomley has a delightful old thatched pub called the White Horse, but at the moment it is being repaired after the thatch had been set on fire by a chimney fire. It will take another six to eight weeks before it reopens, but fortunately most of the damage on the inside is water damage, and its structure hasn't been damaged.
After walk drinks were enjoyed at the Travellers Rest at Alpraham where two of us found the Weetwood, Eastgate Bitter very agreeable. I got the impression that Celia wasn't too impressed with this little gem of a local, and I don't think it was just the Carling lager that she was drinking! I got it wrong , it was just the lager! Sorry Celia.
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